Originally Posted by
Sonic Mountain
Yep. Ok well that is a classic 'paint not fully dried' reaction. Rustoleum takes AGES to go off properly, especially if its a bit of a thicker coat. What has happened here is the top of the coat has hardened into a skin - it probably felt fine to to touch. When you've sprayed the clear over it the solvent has penetrated this skin and reactivated the not quite cured paint underneath.
By ages I am talking months. There are guys here who have noticed even well after the build that rustoleum is marking because the solvents coming out of it are reacting with the foam on most guitar stands. I have a guitar complete finished in it and have done a few necks and you need to exercise super human levels of patience unfortunately. Once it is cured it is very very durable though, so I think it it worth while in the long run.
You will now need to let this cure really well before knocking it back and respraying. It will probably settle down a bit, but you will be able to see wrinkling in the finish thats really hard to buff out. Try putting a fan on it for a few days, if you can evacuate the solvent gases from the surface it will speed up the curing.
Temperature problems usually show up as clouding in the finish, greatly extended drying times and occasionally as bubbles.